Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-03-31
THE COLDEST COUNTRY.
WHAT LIEUT.. ScHEUTzE SAYS OF
THE LENA DELTA COUNTRY.


THE LENA DELTA COUNTRY.
How the Yakuts Manage to Keep Warm
I'm Northwestern Siberia--Huts and
Their Filthiness-FOOd and Clothing.
Eating Butter.
Lieut.. w. H. Scheutze, Of the navy, who
was sent to the Lena delta in northwestern
Siberia 10 deliver to the natives gifts from
the government of the United States to repay
them for the aid they rendered him IN ms
search for the missing members OF the jean
nette party, saws in bis report that the town
of Veroyusk, Siberia, is the coolest mhaDlted
spot in the world. The Thermometer stood at
e;phtv-six below zero when he was there, and
he saws it seldom goes above fifty below
asked him the other day what the people did
who lived at this blissful spot; what they had
TO eat and how they liked 1t.
GWhy.p he replied, sthey think it is pretty
GOOD sort of climate Home, Sweet Home
Is the song all the world over, and if the Yer
ovuskers should come here they would won
der what people did where it Is so internally
hot They would smother in this climate,
and pine for stiff northwesterly arctic gale.
Ii is wonderful the amount Of cold human
flesh can endure. The natives OF Terra del
Fuego 20 stark naked the year round, and In
their country it freezes every night. II Is
much colder in the Lena delta, yet the peo-
pIe manage to keep comfortable, and more
die Of SMALLPOX and scurvy than from the
effects of the intense cold You seldom bear
of any one freezing to death, and then IL Is
those only who expose themselves lmprn-
IDENTIFY who die in that way. More people
f,,f he ITr1ifa than
in Siberia.
HOW TO KEEP WARM.
aBut how do they manage TO keep WarmF
GWell, in the first place the Yakuts are an
enduring race and are born In that climate.
Then they dress in furs, and have learned
from their ancestors, or from their own ex-
perience, how to keep warm Iheir houses
are built of logs, smeared over on the outside
and inside with manure and mud. In each
cabin is large fireplace, which is used for
both heating and cooking. There is seldom
mora than one room In these cabins, and
usually the owners cattle, if be has any, oc-
cupy one end of the room in which he lives,
beine tied. or prevented from trampling on
the babies by q bar The houses are COM
monty very comfortable, but are awfully
dirty, and snell-there is no word to describe
il. Often, until I got used TO it, would
rather lie down in the snow outside, with the
thermometer fifty below zero, than sleep IN
one of these huts But you've no idea what
a man can stand when he has TO-
sHave they windows in their housesF
GYes: ice windows. They use ice as we use
glass. A clear piece is selected, about tye or
six inches thick, morticed in the WINDOW
opening in blocks two feet, and sometimes as
large as four feet square, and with water Is
made solid The water is as good as putty
When the window becomes dirty they scrape
IL Off with knife, and when it has been
scraped thin they substitute new pane"
doesn't the window ever meltP
GBless YOU, no; it is freezing cold that far
from the fire. If the room ever got warm
enough to melt the ice the Yakut couldn't
live in it, and would have to go out doors 10
cool off. At night the fire is allowed TO go
out. as they have to economic in fuel. All
they have is drift wood, gathered on the banks
of the Lena river in the summer time"
aHow do they sleepi Do they undress when
they go to bedP -,
aAiways. They strip to their shirts, which
are made of thick sort of Russian cloth as
heavy as our canvas The men and women
wear the same kind of garments, and never
have more than one at time. / took up
lot of thick flannel for them, enough to last
the rest of their lives, and it will be great
deal more comfortable than the native stuff,
although they don't like it at first. When
they undress they get into hunks built LII the
side of the house-sometimes a man, his
wife and all his children in the same bunk.
They have reindeer skins under and over
them. and curtains of the same hanging be-
fore the bunks The last man or woman TO
undress hangs all the clothing Of the rest
out doors over a pole that Is kept Tor tDe
purpose"
aWhat is that forF
"To freeze the lice. They couldn't live if
they didn't do it, and it has become national
custom. The lice get into the fur and that
is the only way to get them out By hang
ing their clothes over the pole every night
they can keep reasonably free from them, but
the fur fills up again the next day"
ado they ever batheP
GNever in their lives; they haven't any
word for bathing in their language, and the
impossibility of keeping clean is one OF the
greatest hardships of Arctic life"
"What do they eatP
sReindeer meat, beef-they have cows,
queer looking animals, about half as large as
ours, with hummock on their backs like
)
tea, and imported food made of chopped beef
rolled into balls about the size of a marble,
and covered with dough. These they pound
ND and make into soup. Then there is wood
that is very nutritious when it is ground up
and boiled Mixed with reindeer meat 1t
makes good soup. They often eat their fish
raw. OF course they freeze solid as soon
as they are taken out of the water, and
the native, particularly if he is on the
road, cuts them off in shavings as thin as our
chipped beef and eats them raw. They are
palatable, and have lived for days at time
on them, with q cup Of tea made over an al
cohol lamp by way Of variety. The greatest
luxury they have is butter, and they will eat
it by the pound as our people eat confection-
ery. A poor sort of butter is made from the
milk of the native COW, that looks and tastes
more like cheese, and they prize it above all
other classes of food"
~The amount of butter a native will eat
when he can get it." continued Lieut..
Scheutze, dis astonishing. A friend OF mine
in Siberia told me Of a man who ate thirty
six pounds in one day, and then didn't get all
he wanted. They have way Of pounding
up a red berry and mixing it with butter,
which gives it a beautiful pink tint and I'M
proves the flavor. Their drink is the Russian
vodka. almost pure alcohol, and they will
trade their shirts for it. The liquor IS scarce
and expensive, so they are necessarily tenn
perate people. Percy Drummond IN ChlcaSo
Inter Ocean
A Locomotive Gas Lighter.
The covered street at Milan, now well
known as the Victor Emmanuel gallery, is
rooted with glass and completed by large
dome, round the interior of which runs a
chain Of gas lamps. The lighting of these